Football: Teamwork gives Goa the Santosh Trophy

"We proved tonight that football is played elsewhere too, not merely in Bengal." That was an elated Goa Captain Brahmanand soon after his team lifted the Santosh Trophy in Madras on April 15. In the finals, Goa defeated Punjab by a solitary goal scored in the 38th minute of the second half by Camillo Gonsalves.

As a bonus, the team was declared the best behaved of the tournament and, in addition, received a number of other awards such as the best player award for Arnold Rodrigues. Indeed, for the Goans, the championship cup now runneth over.

Compared with the consistent performance of the national champions, two other major contenders for the trophy, Punjab and Bengal, were not quite up to the mark. Bengal for one, a team packed with internationals, functioned more as a collection of individualists than as a team playing for their home state.

As coach Santo Mitra said after their final defeat at the hands of Punjab: "I had repeatedly told them before they entered the field to play any match, how they should play. The whole strategy was worked out and demonstrated to them. But when on field, the senior players never encouraged the juniors nor was there any leadership on the field to goad them to give off their best."

Punjab, for their part, failed to win the championship for two reasons. They came to their encounter with Goa after a gruelling semi-final battle with Bengal. Secondly, they placed too much faith in Parminder Singh to get them on the move. For example, in the final, despite a brilliant game, Parminder could not penetrate a tight Goa defence which did not allow grass to grow under its feet. And the linkmen completely bottled him up. Keeping the key player in check was half the battle won and Punjab's rhythm was broken.

The championships helped both Goa and Punjab put up their claims to more representation in the Indian team. Between the two, they have the best strikers, the sturdiest defenders, fine linkmen as well as the best goalkeepers. In fact, Surjit Singh of Punjab won the best goalkeeper award. Says Brahmanand: "I think Surjit had a more trying time than I possibly did have. He was just wonderful as he had all the answers against Bengal."

Brahmanand was also all praise for Camillo Gonsalves, who is perhaps the only genuine striker that the country has at the moment. Declared best forward of the tournament - yet another of the bagful of accolades that the Goans collected - Camillo was on a personal crusade. As his captain explains: "He had been rather upset when overlooked for the pre-Olympic and other tournaments. He vowed that he would prove the selectors wrong in the national championship."

Off the field, the organisers had little to cheer about. "Interest in the national football championships is slowly waning," complained C.R. Viswanathan, secretary of the Tamil Nadu Football Association, which hosted the matches.

He never spoke a truer word: the tournament lasted over a month but spectators were thin in the stands, except during a few select matches. And this despite the fact that Doordarshan did not telecast the matches to help boost the gate receipts in the golden jubilee year of the association.

If the championships proved anything, it was that teamwork gives a side a crucial edge over the others. As Goa's midfield star Rodrigues said: "I played for the team and it is the team's victory that matters. Individuals do not count as far as we Goans are concerned." While there may be a dash of braggadocio in that statement, there is no doubt that Rodrigues, in practised style, has booted the nail on the head.